From the University of Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole & Josh Matthews
Championship’s roll call: WWE Champion: CM Punk… World Champion: Sheamus… Intercontinental Champion: The Miz… United States Champion: Santino Marella… Tag Team Champions: Kofi Kingston & R-Truth… Diva’s Champion: Layla
An unpleased Alberto Del Rio opens the show. He DEMANDS his title match again; he makes a great point: Sheamus steals his car and destroys it, AND THEN he gets rewarded for it (World title match cancelled). He says he is not leaving the ring until the title match is reinstated. Booker T wastes no time heading into the ring. He calls Del Rio a pain in his side. Alberto does not care; Sheamus damaged his property so he delivered his receipt. Booker says he won’t tolerate his kind of action on SmackDown. Del Rio begins to layer up but Chris Jericho randomly interrupts. Y2J tells him to shut the tagline up. Jericho runs Del Rio down and his entire gimmick. He even calls him a Chihuahua. Alberto calls him a perro and asks who he thinks he is; Jericho retorts with something in Spanish that really upsets Del Rio. He says that his breath smells like dog poop (in Spanish). Y2J feels after he defeats Dolph Ziggler he should get the title shot at Summerslam. The have a microphone-less argument. Booker insists there is no World title match at Summerslam and books the Y2J versus ADR for tonight. 4/10 That solved nothing except book a main event; so I guess there is no title match at Summerslam?
Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes & The Miz: Pre-match, Cody makes fun of Sin Cara and shows a silly artist’s rendition picture of Cara without a mask. Cara and Cody start off and he immediately connects with a handspring elbow and dropkick, sending Rhodes to the floor. Rey low bridges Miz to the floor and Team Luchadore both dive off the apron simultaneously onto common enemies. Cara with a topé and Mysterio with a senton; in the ring, Cara gets two. He hits the twirling armdrag; Miz distracts and Rhodes takes over with a clothesline. Miz then tags in and beats on Cara. Rhodes returns and tries to remove the mask. He hits the release gourdbuster and brings Miz back in; he promptly applies a chinlock. Cody returns and tries for the mask again. Cara counters into an armdrag. The WWE recycled the same storyline with Undashing Cody and Mysterio back in 2010. Speaking of Mysterio, he gets the tag and hits a roundhouse kick (off a sunset flip). Rey hits that wheelbarrow bulldog of his and the Miz breaks up the pinfall. Sin Cara ‘ranas Miz and clotheslines him to the floor. He tries to skin-the-cat back in but Rhodes runs over and tenaciously tries to remove the mask again; it proves fatal as he is so preoccupied with the mask he fails to notice Mysterio running over with the 619. He Drops the Dime for three. Post-match, the Miz tries a sneak attack but eats a 619 as well. Rey grabs the IC title and celebrates with it. 5.5/10 Good but short; they are recycling the Mysterio/Rhodes storyline with Sin Cara, which is fine because it gives two midcarders something to do and keep the fans interested in both of them. It’s when they toil around with nothing to do that the fans lose interest.
Here are your winners… Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara @ about 6:55 via 619/Dime Drop pinfall.
Local Prelim Wrestlers vs. Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks: Reks and Hawkins come out in matching black slacks and red shirts. They do a Chippendales dance for some odd reason and strip into their ring gear. Um, okay, they have matching tights on that look like pairs of underwear (like Meat used to wear). Hawkins hits a soccer kick with a dance. He tags in Reks and hits the slide trip; Reks hits an elbow with silly dancing. He tosses the one guy out of the ring and kills the other one with a big boot. Hawkins tags in and slams Jobber #2. They hit a tandem powerslam into a neckbreaker for the pinfall. 2.5/10 Squash to get the new Chippendale gimmick over.
Here are your winners… Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks @ about 2:00 via powerslam/neckbreaker combo pinfall.
Eve Torres is in the back and she runs into William Regal; he reminisces about being the GM and wishes her luck. Apparently, power can be fleeting… as Regal takes out the trash for the arena crew.
Wade Barrett’s Barrage is coming.
Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres: The winner here becomes Booker T’s assistant. They lock up and Eve pushes Kaitlyn around. She outwrestles her into a front facelock and Fujiwara armbar. Kaitlyn uses her power advantage and hits a backdrop and shoulderblock. Eve drop toehold her into the ropes; Kaitlyn applies an inside cradle, for two. Teddy Long watches from ringside. Kaitlyn tries to come off the top but Torres pulls her off. Eve hits a snap spinning neckbreaker to become the assistant to the GM. 1.5/10 Squash match in an important storyline match. The match had some action but still sucked.
Here is your winner… Eve Torres @ about 2:30 via snap spinning neckbreaker pinfall.
In the back Booker T congratulates Eve Torres on her win; Book asks if she will get along with senior advisor Teddy Long. She assures him they will be professional.
Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan: Here comes the most over guy on the roster (by a mile); seriously, this guy can make the fans do whatever he wants them to do… Orton’s pretty over as well. This match has potential to be good. Michael Cole makes a great comparison regarding the “anger management issues” of both men; Orton “channeled” his issues to win multiple world titles. Bryan has yet to control his issues into wins. They lock up and Bryan gets steamrolled with a shoulderblock. Bryan uses his fists to take over but gets a cross-corner whip reversed; he flips off the top but Orton dropkicks him off the rebound. Daniel retreats to the floor to get into someone at ringside’s face and they scream in a “yes/no” battle; after that he charges back into the ring… right into a backdrop. Orton stomps but misses the floating knee drop. Bryan dropkicks the knee and zeros in on it. Orton tries to fight back but Bryan European uppercuts him and works the knee some more with a knee bar. Oh yeah, Summerslam is this Sunday, I forgot. Orton keeps it interesting by trying to fight back but Bryan snap-suplexes him and heads to the top; Randy crotches him and eventually superplexes him, honoring his dad, the Ace Cowboy. Orton drapes an arm across for two. Back from break, Orton and Bryan have a “yes/no” punchfest until Daniel kicks the knee out. He lays into Orton in the corner with No Kicks and a running dropkick to the knee. He tries again but Orton pulls a Shawn Michaels “relax on the turnbuckles” to avoid a charge and Bryan posts his shoulder. The Viper Comeback begins with clotheslines and a short powerslam; he tries for the Viper DDT but Bryan slips free, attacks the leg, and drags him to the floor but promptly gets tossed into the barricade. Back in the ring, Bryan quickly rolls back out and Orton chases and Bryan is able to toss him into the steps. Back in the ring (again), Bryan gets two and mumbles “no” to himself a lot. He begins No Kicks in the center of the ring but Randy ducks the roundhouse kick and hits the stretch backbreaker. It’s kind of a dumb move with a gimpy knee actually, as Orton is not able to recover fast enough to get a cover because of said knee. Orton hobbles into the corner and they fight to the ropes again; he tries a Viper DDT from the corner and hits it. “The Viper coils”. Bryan counters the RKO into a No Lock attempt… and eventually lassos Orton in it. Randy is trapped in the No Lock but Kane’s turnbuckle pyro goes off, freaking Bryan out and he releases the hold; Kane never shows and Bryan walks right into the RKO for the pinfall. Post-match, Kane appears on the stage and snickers at Bryan with an “I’ll see you at Summerslam look”. 7/10 Great match; the Kane-terference costs Bryan the victory as it was presented; most knew Orton (probably) would have countered anyway but it suspends belief. It gives Orton a pinfall win and helps build the Kane/Bryan match at Summerslam, which has been one of the best builds of any of the matches at the PPV.
Here is your winner… Randy Orton @ about 15:50 via RKO pinfall.
Zack Ryder vs. Antonio Cesaro (w/Aksana): Santino Marella is on commentary since he’s cot Cesaro in a title match on the Summerslam preshow. Cesaro does his usual five language promo, pre-match. Ryder immediately gets planted with a knee and gutwrench suplex. Cesaro hits the Al Snow trapped head-butts and applies a chinlock. Zack quickly fires back with a faceplant and the Broski Boot but Antonio kicks out. Ryder gets a few more plucky shots in before Cesaro presses his throat off the top rope strand. He immediately locks in the Neutralizer (but still manages to get one neck adjustment in pre-move); Ryder jobs clean as a sheet. Post-match, Cesaro runs right after Marella on commentary and pushes him over the table to add a little petroleum to their match. 2/10 This was exactly what I said it was in the post-match comment: a squash that added a little more petroleum to their pre-show title match at Summerslam (which Cesaro SHOULD win that title).
Here is your winner… Antonio Cesaro @ about 2:10 via Neutralizer pinfall.
Clips of the “Perfect Storm” are shown; Brock Lesnar breaks both Triple H and Shawn Michaels’ arms. The promised update on HBK’s condition: he has a broken arm and will MOST LIKELY not be able to be in HHH’s corner at Summerslam. We see a bunch of fans’ tweets followed by a bunch of WWE Superstar tweets as well regarding the HBK situation.
Chris Jericho is in the back headed towards the ring but is attacked by Dolph Ziggler who rams a cherry-picked into his arm; Booker T shows up and gets in Dolph’s face and tosses him.
Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez): Pre-match, Del Rio, after seeing the attack, teases Jericho and insists he wins by forfeit. He demands Booker T reinstate the title match again but Jericho makes his appearance. He tells referee Scott Armstrong to ring the bell. Jericho SLAPS Del Rio so he gives chase; Alberto scores with a knee to the gut to instantly take over on the weakened Jericho. Del Rio aggressively works over Y2J’s midsection with a chest-first hammer toss and a double stomp to the chest. He works Chris over in the corner and hits a kneelift. He basement dropkicks him into the ropes and chokes him. Jericho counters the cross-armbreaker with an enziguri. Y2J tries a comeback but gets backdropped onto the apron and propelled into the announce table. We return from break with Del Rio applying a chinlock. Jericho breaks free but gets nailed with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Del Rio hits a step-up enziguri in the corner, for two. He heads to the second rope but misses the double stomp. Jericho kicks his way back but a body blow slows him down; Del Rio charges into a reverse elbow. The Lionsault connects but hurts Chris more than Alberto (weakened chest) so it merely nets two. Del Rio gets the Backstabber armbreaker countered into the Walls of Jericho. Del Rio kicks him off and Dolph Ziggler reappears to pull the top rope down tumbling Jericho to the floor. Ricardo is distracting the referee as Ziggler deposits Jericho back into the ring for an enziguri which gets the pinfall. Post-match, a frustrated Del Rio applies the cross-armbreaker as Dolph shouts in his face. Sheamus makes an appearance to save Jericho. Well, the save was incidental as he just wants to kick Alberto’s ass. Sheamus has his arm bandaged from the attack. They brawl onto the floor and Del Rio runs away into the crowd. GM Booker appears; he asks why Sheamus is even in the building. Sheamus wants the match at Summerslam to be reinstated to get some of Alberto. Booker questions his injuries but eventually reinstates the match. 4.5/10 Pretty good main event despite it being hampered by the “injury” to Jericho; the match is back on, not sure why they did the stall and restart with the title match this close to the PPV but whatever, it is back on.
Here it your winner… Alberto Del Rio @ bout 10:15 via enziguri pinfall.
OVERALL 5/10 Average show with some decent quality matches; you’d never think Summerslam is THIS Sunday. It feels like this has been the least promoted Summerslam ever.
